ALCIBIADES: Certainly. SOCRATES: Then by gymnastic we take care of our feet, and by shoemaking of that which belongs to our feet? ALCIBIADES: Very true. SOCRATES: And by gymnastic we take care of our hands, and by the art of graving rings of that which belongs to our hands? ALCIBIADES: Yes. SOCRATES: And by gymnastic we take care of the body, and by the art of weaving and the other arts we take care of the things of the body? ALCIBIADES: Clearly. SOCRATES: Then the art which takes care of each thing is different from that which takes care of the belongings of each thing? ALCIBIADES: True. SOCRATES: Then in taking care of what belongs to you, you do not take care of yourself? ALCIBIADES: Certainly not. SOCRATES: For the art which takes care of our belongings appears not to be the same as that which takes care of ourselves? ALCIBIADES: Clearly not. SOCRATES: And now let me ask you what is the art with which we take care of ourselves? ALCIBIADES: I cannot say. SOCRATES: At any rate, thus much has been admitted, that the art is not one which makes any of our possessions, but which makes ourselves better? ALCIBIADES: True. SOCRATES: But should we ever have known what art makes a shoe better, if we did not know a shoe? ALCIBIADES: Impossible. SOCRATES: Nor should we know what art makes a ring better, if we did not know a ring? ALCIBIADES: That is true. SOCRATES: And can we ever know what art makes a man better, if we do not know what we are ourselves? ALCIBIADES: Impossible. SOCRATES: And is self-knowledge such an easy thing, and was he to be lightly esteemed who inscribed the text on the temple at Delphi? Or is self-knowledge a difficult thing, which few are able to attain? ALCIBIADES: At times I fancy, Socrates, that anybody can know himself; at other times the task appears to be very difficult. SOCRATES: But whether easy or difficult, Alcibiades, still there is no other way; knowing what we are, we shall know how to take care of ourselves, and if we are ignorant we shall not know. ALCIBIADES: That is true. SOCRATES: Well, then, let us see in what way the self-existent can be discovered by us; that will give us a chance of discovering our own existence, which otherwise we can never know. ALCIBIADES: You say truly. SOCRATES: Come, now, I beseech you, tell me with whom you are conversing?--with whom but with me? ALCIBIADES: Yes. SOCRATES: As I am, with you? ALCIBIADES: Yes. SOCRATES: That is to say, I, Socrates, am talking? ALCIBIADES: Yes. SOCRATES: And Alcibiades is my hearer? ALCIBIADES: Yes. SOCRATES: And I in talking use words? ALCIBIADES: Certainly. SOCRATES: And talking and using words have, I suppose, the same meaning? ALCIBIADES: To be sure. SOCRATES: And the user is not the same as the thing which he uses? ALCIBIADES: What do you mean? SOCRATES: I will explain; the shoemaker, for example, uses a square tool, and a circular tool, and other tools for cutting? ALCIBIADES: Yes.